Forbidden Love: Joe Kelly & Ramon Laureano

Forbidden Love is a Cubs DNA series where our staff waxes poetic about a player on a team other than the Cubs. Maybe even one you think they should hate. In this installment, Tina decided to give extra love to two players who were unfairly and harshly punished for their actions against the Houston Asstros - Dodgers Relief Pitcher Joe Kelly and A's Outfielder Ramon Laureano.

You gotta love feisty guys. Remember when Rizzo stormed the Reds dugout back in 2014 when then Reds reliever Aroldis Chapman threw pitches a little too close to his teammates? Yeah, kinda like that, but not really.

On July 28, Dodgers reliever Joe Kelly was suspended for eight games (down to five, after an appeal) for throwing behind the heads of Alex Bregman and Carlos Correa. Anyone watching him pitch knows he's known for having control issues ... see his 2018 World Series performance and some spring training toss-arounds at home for proof:

Who could blame him for being mad? He got suspended basically for verbally mocking Correa while not even hitting him with a ball, much less not even getting a warning from the ump. Some more thoughts from Kelly afterwards:

My second Forbidden Love is A's outfielder Ramon Laureano. Poor Ramon was hit by a pitch by an Astros pitcher TWICE in the same game (and third time in the series), so you can understand why he was seething.

While Laureano was at first after being hit the second time, hitting coach for the Astros Alex Cintron shouted some unsavory words to Laureano and challenged him to a fight.

Laureano was suspended for eight days (reduced to four), while Cintron justifiably got 20 days. Laureano commented after the game, “I regret charging him because he’s a loser."

The Asstros are losers indeed. Thanks for taking it for the team, guys!